Nick Douglas

In this age of rising and falling get-rich-quick schemes, let us pause to honor a fallen dot-com that sought no wealth, that was truly meant for the greater good. Brothers and sisters, CouchSurfing.com has passed away.

The site where normal people offered others a place to crash (or "couchsurf") championed a San Franciscan — no, a universal — spirit the Craigslist founders would have admired. "I saw in CS, in you," says site founder Casey, "the power to change not only they way we travel, but change the world itself."

But that power could not save CouchSurfing from a hard drive failure and poorly executed backup. Founder Casey reports, "it has become clear that certain essential pieces are not recoverable." He has decided to let the site pass away.

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With each death of an honest-to-God help-the-people website, which asked for no funding and sought no liquidation event, the Valley is the less. So ask not for whom the surf rolls; it rolls for thee.